Wire feeding means



June 14, 1966 J, G, WRIGHT ET AL 3,255,785

WIRE FEEDING MEANS Original Filed Jan. 29, 1963 3 Sheets-$heet l INVENTORS 70H 6. WEIGHT 6 ROY 5. SMITH B {766.44% 5 w-m W ATTOR 5Y5 June 14, 1966 J. G. WRIGHT ETAL 3,255,785

WIRE FEEDING MEANS Original Filed Jan. 29, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS JOHN G. WRIGHT 5 BY R0) 5. SMITH Cl fifidwz D (J.

ATTORNEYS June 14, 1966 J. G. WRIGHT ETAL WIRE FEEDING MEANS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed Jan. 29, 1963 1M 6 5 mm a u mmwd m W m 7 WW OLVA 5 W w a United States Patent 6 Claims. Cl; 140-147 The present invention is a division of copending application Serial No. 255,155, filed January 29, 1963.

This invention relates to machines of the type in which wire is fed in a continuous length from a reel supply to have fasteners formed successively therefrom, and in which each of the successively formed fasteners is driven or inserted in material to be secured as a following phase of a cyclic fastener forming and inserting operation.

More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a machine of the foregoing type that incorporates a unique rearrangement of the basic structural and operating relations to provide for the formation and insertion of much longer and heavier fasteners than has heretofore been possible with such machines.

Thus, the machine of the present invention is capable of forming fasteners from 8 to 10 gauge wire in any length up to 5% inches, which is equivalent to a forty-penny length, and may accordingly be employed to exceptional advantage for nailing heavy-duty structures such as skids or shipping pallets or truck platforms; for producing housing sub-components of all sorts; and for use otherwise in any instance where a long and substantial fastener is needed or desirable, as in the securing of plywood sheets in stacks for production sawing.

Briefly described, the machine is rearranged according to the present invention to provide for feeding the exceptionally heavy and stiff wire properly from the reel supply to the fastener forming means.

The features of the present invention are described at further length below in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a left-side perspective view of a fastener forming and inserting machine according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the fastener forming and inserting machine of FIG. 1 with the front of the housing removed for illustration of machine components within the housing;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the wire feeding means of the fastener forming and inserting machine of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the wire feeding means of FIG. 3 taken along the path of the wire in a plane transverse to the plane of FIG. 3.

In the illustrated embodiment, the basic arrangement comprises a frame structure, as indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, which is preferably formed to provide a laterally extended throat portion at -12 for accommodating work of considerable breadth in a manner comparable to that disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,023,412, issued March 6, 196-2. Forwardly and at the lower side of this throat portion 12, a work supportingtable 14 is arranged to carry work for insertion of fasteners upwardly therein against the clamping force of an overhead anvil 16, which is carried by the piston rod of a double-acting cylinder and piston unit 18 that is operated in the manner of an air motor to force the anvil 1'6 downwardly for work clamping action during fastener insertion, while maintaining it retracted upwardly so as to clear the work at other times. The anvil 16 and associated cylinder and piston unit 10 are hung from a supporting bracket 20 at the top of the frame structure 10 through a threaded shank 22 that is engaged by a handwheel 24 for adjusting the height of the anvil 12 above the work table 14 to suit the work being handled; the supporting bracket 20 being fitted with a binding screw at 26 that may be tightened for holding the threaded shank 22 at a selected adjustment.

The supply S of wire W that is to be fed to the machine is arranged at one side thereof on a reel structure as indicated generally at in FIG. 1, and feeding of the wire W is accomplished by a feed mechanism that is located adjacently on the frame structure 10 as indicated generally at 200 in FIG. 2. The fastener forming knife mecha nism, which receives the feed wire W, is arranged directly below the work table 14 as seen at 300 in FIG. 2, and the cyclic fastener forming and inserting operations are actuated by a drive system that delivers through an operating shaft 400.

The reel structure 100, forming the supporting means for handling the considerable weight and size of the wire supply S that must be used in the machine of the present invention, is arranged on a dolly basez101 so that it may be moved away from the machine for loading readily. A back side member 102 of this dolly base 100 projects sufiiciently at each end for positioning location within the reach of a fixed bracket (not shown) arranged toward the rear of the machine frame 10, and a forwardly arranged latch bracket 104 having a latch arm 104 pivoted thereon for displacement to release the reel structure 100 whenever it needs to be moved away for loading.

The wire feeding mechanism 200, by which the wire W is intermittently drawn from the reel structure 100 and advanced tothe fastener forming knife mechanism 300, is carried on the frame structure 10 in part at the reel structure latch bracket 104, which has an upwardly and outwardly angled lip portion 201 on which the foot of a standard 202 is mounted by fastening means at 203 to assume an inclination parallel with the path in which the wire W needs to be fed from the reel structure 100 at one side of the machine to the knife mechanism 300 beneath the substantial center of the work table '14.

The standard 202 has the stationary or holding portion of the feeding mechanism 200 arranged thereon, and for this purpose it carries a plate member 20 1 at a pivot axis 205 to float pivotally in the plane of its length and breadth within a range determined by a pair of stop pins 204' fitted in the plate member 204 to extend at each side of the standard 202. The plate member 204- in turn carries a cluster of wire straightening rolls 206, 207 and 208 thereon, together with a wire gripping blade 209 disposed to act oppositely at the first of the straightening rolls 206.

The gripping blade 209, which is preferably of the rectangular block form disclosed in copending application Serial No. 733,222, filed April 14, 1958, is fitted in a pivoted block member 210 that is biased at 211, from a ledge element 212 on the plate member 204, to grip the wire W against movement other than in the feeding direction. The ledge element 212 is also arranged to serve as a directing guide for the wire W below the first straight ening roll 206, which is located onthe plate member 204 so as to have the wire gripping blade 209 act thereat just below and slightly to the left (as seen in FIG. 3) of the plate member pivot axis 205.

Upon threading the wire W into the feeding mechanism 200, the block member 210 may be pivoted readily against its bias to free the wire at the first straightening roll 206, and the second straightening roll 207 is fitted with a re- Patented June 14, 1966 lease arm 207' for rotating its mounting axis, which is carried eccentrically (not shown) in the plate member 234 so that such rotation results in backing-off the roll 207 to allow the wire threading to be continued easily past the final straightening roll 208 as well.

The movable or advancing portion of the feeding mechanism 200 comprises a second gripping blade 213 that is again fitted in a block member 124 which is pivoted and biased in this instance on a bracket structure 215 attached to an operating arm 216 against which the gripping blade 213 is biased to act at an insert 217 provided to withstand attrition by the wire W. The operating arm 216 reaches rearwardly of the frame structure 10 in a considerable extent to a pivoted mounting at 216', and carries a follower roll 218 intermediate its length, while having its forward end extended through a vertically slotted guide member 219. The follower roll 218 is positioned on the operating arm 216 in relation to an actuating cam 220 that is carried by the previously mentioned operating shaft 400 and that causes upward pivoting, and allows a downward pivoting return, of the operating arm 216 during each cam cycle.

Feeding of the wire W takes place during the upward pivoting stroke of the operating arm 216, and the extent of this stroke determines the length of fastener that will be formed by the knife mechanism 3%. Accordingly, adjustment of the fastener length can be obtained by selectively limiting the downward pivoting extent of the operating arm 216, and provision for doing this is made by arranging a settable abutment means 221 in the vertically slotted guide member 219 below the operating arm 216. Suitable scale markings may be arranged at the front face of the guide member 219 to indicate the proper setting of the abutment means 221 for a given fastener length, and the bracket structure 215 on the operating arm 216 may be conveniently fitted with a lifting handle 222 at which the operating arm weight can be supported as the abutment means 221 is set.

In operation, the pivoted arrangement of the operating arm 216 causes the gripping blade 213 thereon to move in an arcuate path that is not very pronounced because of the considerable extent of the pivoting radius, but which nevertheless causes a slight swaying of the wire W as it is fed. Such wire sway, however, is accommodated readily by the pivotally floating arrangement of the plate member 204 on which the holding portion of the feeding mechanism 200 is arranged. The floating disposition of the plate member 204 also allows the straightening action of the rolls 206, 207 and 208 to find and maintain an aligned application with respect to the path of the wire W that is dictated by the feeding pull thereon, so that the feeding and straightening of the wire W can be handled effectively together.

In this latter connection, it should also be noted that the fastening means 203, by which the standard 202 is mounted, has a location aligned in relation to the path of the wire W through the straightening rolls 206, 207 and 208 so as to provide a pivot axis about which the standard 202 may be shifted to set the plane of the straightening roll cluster for action on the wire W in the direction that will best effect straightening as it is withdrawn from the reel structure 100.

The wire W fed by the feed mechanism 200 is received in the central slot 313 of a movable knife block 305 of the fastener forming knife mechanism 300, which is actuated by an operating mechanism 303 controlled from the aforementioned operating shaft 400 to oscillate the movable knife block 305 concentrically with a stationary knife block 304 to form thereby a fastener and position it vertically for driving into work by a plunger rod 340 carried by a mounting assembly 341 that is reciprocated by the operating shaft 400, which is rotated cyclically to effect operation of the various machine components by drive means (not shown) acting through clutch means shown at the right in FIG. 2. The fastener forming knife mechanism 300 is disclosed in detail and claimed in copending application Serial No. 448,472, filed April l5, 1965 The fastener driving mechanism is disclosed in detail and claimed in the aforementioned copending application Serial No. 255,155, of which the present application is a division. The clutch means is disclosed in detail and claimed in copending application Serial No. 448,473, filed April 15, 1965.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Wire feeding means comprising a movable structure shiftable cyclically through a feeding stroke and recovery for intermittent feeding of wire, and a stationary structure through which said wire is pulled during feeding and by which said wire is held during recovery of said movable structure, said stationary structure incorporating a cluster of three straightening rolls disposed for action on said wire as it is pulled therethrough during feeding, and a wire gripping blade biased oppositely at the first straightening roll of said cluster for holding said wire during recovery of the movable structure.

2. Wire feeding means as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said straightening roll cluster and said wire gripping blade are carried on a common plate member, and in that said plate member is mounted for pivotally floating in the plane of its length and breadth about an axis located adjacent but back of the point at which said gripping blade is opposed to said first straightening roll so that said plate member floats in alignment with the feeding pull exerted on said wire by said movable structure.

3. Wire feeding means as defined in claim 2 and further characterized in that the mounting of said common plate member additionally incorporates an adjustment axis at right angles to the axis of said pivotal floating and substantially aligned with the path of wire feeding for allowing the plane of said plate member to be adjustably set in relation to said feeding path.

4. Wire feeding means as defined in claim 2 and further characterized in that said movable structure comprises a pivoted operating arm carrying a wire gripping blade biased to engage said wire for exerting a feeding pull thereon, and in that cam means is disposed for pivoting said operating arm to actuate said feeding pull.

5. In a fastener forming and inserting machine adapted for forming fasteners from a continuous length of wire and inserting said fasteners in material to be secured, means for feeding wire from a reel supply to have said fasteners formed therefrom, said feeding means comprising an operating arm pivotally mounted-on said machine, means for oscillating said arm, wire gripping means carried by said arm and oscillatable therewith in an arcuate path to feed wire intermittently from said reel supply during a feeding stroke of said operating arm, a support member mounted on said machine, wire engaging means pivotally mounted on said support member intermediate said wire gripping means and said reel supply and pivotally floating in a plane generally parallel to the plane of movement of said oscillating arm, said wire engaging means acting on said wire to guide and straighten it and pivoting to follow the feeding pull of said movable wire gripping means as it moves through said arcuate path during each feeding stroke.

6. In a fastener forming and inserting machine, means for feeding wire according to claim 5 and characterized further in that adjustable stop means is provided to limit selectively the extent of the return stroke of said operating arm and thereby adjust the extent of the wire feeding stroke of the operating arm to feed a selected length of wire during each operating arm oscillation.

(References on following page) References Cited by the Examiner UNITED FOREIGN PATENTS STATES PATENTS 561,820 8/1923 France. Ryan 22,6467 948,881 9/1956 Germany.

5 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

Von Kanuf 226-167 W. H. JUST, Assistant Examiners. 

1. WIRE FEEDING MEANS COMPRISING A MOVABLE STRUCTURE SHIFTABLE CYCLICALLY THROUGH A FEEDING STROKE AND RECOVERY FOR INTERMITTENT FEEDING OF WIRE, AND A STATIONARY STRUCTURE THROUGH WHICH SAID WIRE IS PULLED DURING FEEDING AND BY WHICH SAID WIRE IS HELD DURING RECOVERY OF SAID MOVABLE STRUCTURE, SAID STATIONARY STRUCTURE INCORPORATING A CLUSTER OF THREE STRAIGHTENING ROLLS DISPOSED FOR ACTION ON SAID WIRE AS IT IS PULLED THERETHROUGH DURING FEEDING, AND A WIRE GRIPPING BLADE BIASED OPPOSITELY AT THE FIRST STRAIGHTENING ROLL OF SAID CLUSTER FOR HOLDING SAID WIRE DURING RECOVERY OF THE MOVABLE STRUCTURE. 